E-commerce and transactions of all kinds require communication that is secure and indisputable. In case electronic communication is used to effect such transactions, confidentiality, identification of sender/recipient and message integrity of such communication must be ensured electronically, and relevant communication events must be registered in a non-repudiation protocol for reasons of traceability. Legal and business demands must be satisfied, and data privacy as defined by applicable law or by individual users or user groups must be maintained at the same time. Examples for such transactions can be the transmission of e-invoices, the management of purchasing transactions or the execution of digital postal services, such as trusted and binding e-mail. Challenges are manifold and may be met using embodiments of the invention, in particular by adopting a new flexible architectural approach with innovative technical processes according to embodiments of the invention.
WO 2007073943 A1 discloses a communication system comprising a sender unit, a recipient unit and a control unit, wherein the sender unit is adapted to generate an electronic message, to send the electronic message directly to the recipient unit, and to send a sending information message to the control unit indicating that the sender unit has sent the electronic message to the recipient unit, wherein the recipient unit is adapted to receive the electronic message directly from the sender unit and to send a receipt information message to the control unit, the receipt information message indicating that a user of the recipient unit has received the electronic message.
WO 2007073943 A1 furthermore discloses that a provider may communicate with the sender unit in a manner that the provider knows the identity of a user of the sender unit. However, in contrast to this, a communication between the first control entity and the second control entity regarding the sender unit may be anonymous so that the identity of the sender unit will not be known to the second control entity.
There may be a need for a first node, a second node, a communication network, a first communication method, and a second communication method which may be employed to in particular improve a method for secure data transfer or data transmission.
Further, there may be a need for a communication network comprising a first control node and a second control node, which enables administering transaction-related data and/or content-related data in an anonymous manner, in particular taking into account regulations in different jurisdictions, such as in different political countries.
To meet at least one of the above needs, a first node, a second node, a communication network, a first communication method and a second communication method are provided according to the independent claims.